Amateur Radio Emergency Service Organizations

If you're like me and my wife, you got interested in amateur radio as a means of communicating during emergency.

Since I got interested in amateur radio, right here along the Wasatch front we've had the following emergencies:

Widespread power outage in Utah County. Power was out in several towns for several hours. [looking for date]

Wind gusts ("microbursts?") damaged all sorts of property (mostly roofs) in Utah County, and downed power lines. happened sometime 1995?)

A propane gas truck overturned on the Lehi offramp from I-15. I-15 was shut down for several hours, for a mile around the rollover site, both northbound and southbound. The two frontage roads were immediately choked with the diverted traffic. The normally 30-minute drive home took two or three hours for most commuters. Cellular telephone traffic was so heavy, for a while fully 70% of all cellular calls were not getting through. So much for cell phones being the answer.

3-12-97: Some dolt didn't call Blue Stakes and dug right through the main phone line for my town of residence, Lehi. We couldn't call out, nobody could call in (actually, if people called in, they heard a ringing tone, just like they would if the called party weren't answering, so callers didn't know the phones were out). We had conflicting dinner appointments with relatives, and we couldn't call either. Bummer.

4-11-97: For the first time in eight years, my car broke down on the side of the road. Happened three days after my wife got her radio. I was able to call her on our favorite repeater, and while I waited, she called an auto club to activate a one-month free trial membership which would cover the cost of towing, called a towing place, and had the wrecker at my car in an hour. The wrecker got me to Pep Boys, where my wife was supposed to meet me, but she wasn't sure she was in the right part of town. So, she called me on the same repeater and I guided her to me. Oh, the wonders of amateur radio!

The following organizations are active in our area (and, probably, most areas) for emergency communications relief efforts. You can serve as part of any or all of the following organizations. However, keep in mind that you should have established in your mind which organization will be your first priority in times of emergency. Depending on the extent of the emergency, only one or all four organizations may be actively coordinating relief efforts.

MARS

MARS (Military Affiliate Radio System) is concerned with communications between members of the United States Armed Forces and their families. There's a Navy MARS, an Army MARS, and an Air Force MARS. Usually, your radio would have to be modified to transmit and receive on the frequencies that are used.For more information, see MARS home page.

MARA

MARA (Mercury Amateur Radio Association) is concerned with wide-area relief efforts, like national and international relief, and also local emergencies. During the Mexico City quake of ??, the MARA net was about the only communication that was reaching beyond the affected area. MARA saved lives. MARA was first organized by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which divested itself of organizing and maintaining MARA a few years ago. MARA currently has no central organization, although many local MARA nets are still active. For more information, see The World-Wide MARA Page. NETS: Every Wednesday night at 9pm on xxx.xx.

RACES

RACES (Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services, pronounced "ray-seez") is concerned primarily with state-wide relief efforts, and is organized and maintained at the state level as a government entity. During times of a declared state emergency, no amateur station may transmit unless it has a RACES number assigned to it. For more information on RACES (specifically, Utah State RACES), see Utah State Radio Amateur Emergency Service. NETS:

ARES

ARES (Amateur Radio Emergency Service, pronounced "air-ee-ess") is concerned primarily with local, county-level relief efforts. Although chartered by the ARRL, it is designed to operate under civil authority (county government) during emergencies. ARES membership involves several levels of certification. For more information on ARES (specifically, Utah County ARES), see Utah County Amateur Radio Emergency Service. NETS:

SCATeam

The SCATeam (Sheriff's Communication Auxiliary Team) is part of ARES. It provides leadership for the ARES chapter, and interfaces directly with the Sheriff's office. The SCATeam also provides liason between the Sheriff's office and several "customers," namely city governments, hospitals, and federal agencies. For more information on SCATeam, see Utah County Sheriff's Communication Auxiliary Team. NETS: none.

ERRS

ERRS (Emergency Response Radio Service) is one type of communications that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints currently uses in relief efforts, specifically to coordinate info and efforts between church leadership and the bishop's storehouse (emergency food and clothes storage). The idea is to be able to get food, clothing, and shelter to those who need it, regardless of how many other communications systems have broken down. ERRS is organized and maintained by the LDS Church. Although it usually uses HAM bands, in some areas it uses business/police bands (like the Lehi area), and don't ask me why. NETS: Every Thursday night at 9pm on 145.45+.